Fuel-feed indicator



' Maren 26, 1929.

JIE. 1.554 FUEL- FEED INDICATOR Filed April 25. 1922 I 4 Sheets-Sheet l M r 1929. J. E. LEA 1,206,928

FUEL FEED INDI CATOR Filed April 25. 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 J. E. LEA

March 26, 1929.

EED INDICATOR Filed A ril 25. 1922 I 4 Shets-Sheet 5 March 26, 1929.

.135. LEA

FUEL FEED INDICATOR Filed April 25. 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Mar. 26, 1929.

JAMES EDWARDYLEA, 0F MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.

runnrnnn INDICATOR.

Application filed April 25, 1922, Serial-N0. 556,555, and insGreat Britain- September 10, 1921.

This invention has reference to apparatus primarily for use with mechanical stokers of. the endless chain gratetype, and also "for use with other and like-appliances adapted to feed or convey granular substances through an orifice, and the object of the invention is to provide improved means, in combination with the said type of mechanical stokers or appliances, whereby the rate of feed of the fuel into the boilerfurnace, or that of the granular material through the orifice at any moment will be. instantly indicated, thereby in the case off-fuel tied into a furance indicating the rate at which the fuel is being consumed, which willaiford useful data. by which to check thestea n. raising qualities of the fuel or. boiler, and n the case of othermaterials, furnish useful data as to the rates .atwhich'the materials are dealt with,say in being discharged into or front-a vessel, or otherwise disposed of.

Endless chain grate stokers for boileufurnaces' are usually provided with change speedgear by which the grate may be run at several different speeds '(usually 'tour) to suit the rate at which it'is desired to feed the. fuel into the furnace, and the total quart-- tity oi tuel'that enters the furnace varies with the speed or the grate and the thickness of the, layer of fuel," theretorgfor each speed, the quantity of fuel deliveredis proportional to the thickness .Of'the'layer of fueh and for any. given thickness the quantity of fuel delivered is proportional to the speed of the grateJf I The present invention takes advantage of these {facts and consists essentially of an instrument or apparatus wherein is any element provided with as many scales as there are separate speeds for the endless grate or other; conveyor torun at, and wherein another eleme'nt-moveable over any one of said scales with any changein the thickness of the layer ofjttuel oruother m:- terial to be measurerhboth of the elements being .auto matically operated, or one being automatically operated and the other being operated or. set by l1111d,b1:b0tl1 beingset byhand. Each sfiale calibrated to indicate the rates of feed for a, particular sp'eedin relation to various thicknesses in thelayer of mate rial, and said calibration-will usually be expressed in cubic feet, or pounds Each scale may ,also be calibrated to denote in inches various thickness. in the layer of material.

Upon the accompanying drawings:

Fig.1 illustrates an end elevation, and

Fig; 2 a front elevation of a chain grate stoker, with one exampleot theinvention applied thereto. i

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate further end. elevations of chain grate stokers with twofurther examples of the invention .applied thereto.

' Fig. 5.illustrites a sectional plan, and

Fig. 6 a cross; sectional elevation of a further example of the invention.

F igs. 7.and 8 illustrates "sectional elevations of the improved appliance as. applied to the. coal meter formingthe subject of my priorPatent No. 1,293,130. i

9 isan exterior view of the indicator shown in Figs. 5 and 6. i

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the indicator shown in Fig. 8, but showing the same attached to the coal'meter forming. the subject of my prior;PatentNo. 1,293,130.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view eta-number of chain grate stokcrs each fitted Withthe construction of indicator shown in'Figs; 5, 6 and 9. V

Fig. 12 illustrates in diagram a side sectional elevation of a conveyor, a hopper with orifice, a regulator controlling the orifice, and speed-change mechanism for the conveyor, with one example of the invention applied thereto. I

-Reterring to Figs. 1 and 2, a disc a. is employed, said disc being keyed to the spindle a by which the speec gears of the grate (not shown) are changechand such disc, on one of its side faces, is marked with a series of scales Z),one'for eacho'f the different speeds of the furnace grate, see Fig. 2.

Movable across one half of the face of the 2 disc is a pointer 0, which in one direction may be moved by a spring ,cl anchored to a ring a lying); around said geai' clianging spins dle, and in the opposite direction may be moved by the door of the boiler-furnace or the means, rack f, used for raising and lowerine; such door.

\lVith each adjustment ofthe spindleto change the speed of the grate from one speed to another, the disc at is rotated so as to bring the scale related, to such speed behind the pointer c, whichzat once indicates on the scale the rate of feed of the fuel for the particular speetfl of grate and thickness of layer of fuel. lVith any adjustment of the furnace door, the pointer c is moved across the face of the disc at and is thereby automatically set to the cor rect position for indicating the rate of feed at any moment for the then thickness of the layer of fuel and velocity of grate.

in another example of the invention, see Fig. 3, a flat plate y is employed, marked with the several scales aforesaid, which are arranged parallel with each other, and such plate is adapted to slide to and fro in a direction atright angles to the scales marked thereon and take up different positions under the action of the spced-changing mechanism and a counter-balzmce weight g. Movable across the said plate in direction parallel with the scales to is a pointer h connected directly (or indirectly) to the furnace door or its operating means.

With a change of speed of grate, the said plate 9 is moved endwise, thereby bringing the scale related to the )articular speed be hind the pointer 72, whilst with a change in the thickness of the layer of fuel the pointer is moved along the scale, the position of the pointer indicating the then rate of feed.

In Fig. 4: the plate 9 is shown fixed, and the pointer 71, which is connected to the dooroperating member, is made to a width which allows it to extend across the several scales. In this case, it is necessary first to ascertain the speed of the grate, and therefore the pal ticular scale for such speed in order to dctermine the rate of feed.

In. lieu of a flat plate. a rotatable cylinder '5 may be employed, see Figs. 5 and 6, marked with the scales and the pointer j may be carried on an adjacent and parallel spindle 7a movable endwisc, the cylinder being rotated by the gear-changing mechanism or by hand and the pointer being moved by the furnace door or door-o icrating mechanism. To prevent the pointer j touching the cylinder 2' the arm y" carrying same may be slidably supported upon a fixed guide rod Z.

Another example of the in ention which can. be conveniently combined with the fuel meter forming the subject of my prior Patent Noj 1,293,130 consists of a pointer mi' mounted on an extension it of the spindle or bar carrying the endwise moving pinion of the said meter and of a cylinder 0 surrounding said pointer, such cylinder being closed at one end and open at the other, and at such open end, being jonrnaled in a bearing ring y) secured to the end of the outer casing of the instrument. In such cylinder are slots (7 one for each speed of the grate, and along side each slot, the outer face of the cylinder is marked with one of the said scales. In this arrangement the element which carries the scales is adjusted by hand, the cylinder being provided with a knurled rim to facilitate the rotation. The pointer mis moved automatically by the said pinion spindle of the meter, the position of the pointer, which is to be seen through the slot in the cylinder, indicating, in conjunction with the scale, the rate of feed at any moment. The cylinder 0 might also be automatically adjusted by a connection with the gear changing mechanism.

In Fig. 8, the cylinder 0 is and has only one slot, while inside the cylinder is adrum '1', carrying the scales, and rotatable by hand (or by the speed changing mechanism), ,a pointer 8 carried by the extension it moving along the scale which for the time comes opposite the slot in the cylinder 0.

As shown in Fig. 12, the hopper 13 has an orifice 14.- for the delivery of the material. 15 on a conveyor 16. The conveyor is driven by chain 17 from a change speedv box 18 having a change speed control wheel 19. Over the orifice a regulator 20. Mounted adjacent to the hopper is an indicator to show the rate of feed and comprises a drum 21 having a series of scales 22, three of which are visible in the drawing. The drmn is mechanically connected by a cable 23, passing over pulleys 24, to the control wheel 19 so as to turn simultaneously therewith to present at all times the scale which corresponds to the selected gear ratio, which selection is determined by the control wheel 19. A pointer 25 is slidably mounted adjacent to the selected scale 22, so as to move over same and is coupled by a cable 26 t0 the regulator 20 so as to assume a position relative on the scale to the size of the orifice as determined by the position of the regulator. Incorporated with the apparatus is an integrator unit comprising a toothed drum 27 geared to the conveyor, with which a sliding intermediate pinion 28 engages, carried by the pointer 25, so as to obtain on the counter 29 a reading proportional to the volume of the material delivered.

Whilst preferring to adjust one or both of the indicating elements automatically, both may be adjusted by hand, that is to say, with the speed of the grate and thickness of layer of fuel known, the rate of feed can be readily determined by bringing the scale for the known speed behind the pointer previously arranged, according to the known thickness of fuel along the scale.

Although chiefly for use with mechanical stokers of the endless chain grate type, it will be understood that the invention may be usefully employed with other apparatus employing an endless conveyor for feeding granular materials through an orifice.

The invention may also be used with apparatus in which only the speed of the con veyor varies, and the thickness of the layer of material remains constant. In such case made a tixture the pointer will be stationary, and the indicator only adjusted. Obviously, When the speed of the conveyor is constant, and only the thickness of the layer of granular 1naterial varies, one scale only Will be necessary, or the indicator will not require to be adjusted after once being for a particular speed.

\Vhat I claim is 2- 1. In apparatus comprising a hopper having an orifice through which granular material is to be delivered, a conveyor extending through said orifice, means for driving the conveyor at one or other of speeds, and a regulator controlling said orifice, in combination a rotary indicator having a series of scales, one for each speed of the conveyor and each scale calibrated to indicate the rate of feed for a particular speed in relation to various thicknesses in the layer of granular material, a pointer movable over the scales to positions corresponding to the thickness of the layer of material When passing through the orifice, means for operably connecting the pointer to the orifice regulator, and further means for operseveral ably connecting the indicator to the changespeed control mechanism of the conveyor, as set forth.

2. In apparatus comprising a hopper hav ing an orifice through which granular material is to be delivered, a conveyor extending through said orifice, means for driving the conveyor at one or other of several speeds, and a regulator controlling said orilice, in combination an indicator having a series of scales, one for each speed of the conveyor, and each scale calibrated to indicate the rates of feed for a particular speed in relation to a particular thickness of the layer of granular material passing through the orifice, a pointer for said indicator coming op aosite the calib'ations of the scales corresponding to the rates of feed for each speed of the conveyor, and means actuated by the speed changing mechanism of the conveyor to bring the correct scale calibration to come in the indicating position with relation to the point-er, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JAMES EDWVARD LEA. 

